Manege Problems Again!

[JAK]

How often are you are unable to ride in your outside manege due to the surface being waterlogged after heavy rain the night before for example?
Have mentioned the problems with ours before I know but just wondering just what is acceptable befoe I ay anything further?
Has been down for approx. a year & surface is sand, the condition of which varies between the Sahara desert & a quagmire!

Girls tacked ponies up this morning, admittedley after heavy rain last night, only to find the surface was now the consistency of thick soup & is now so wet, it's actually flowing like dry sand - impossible to ride on obviously, for both ponies & manege, so had to come out!
Not sure I can stand another winter of this, as hacking is quite dangerous round here & we may actually be left with nowhere to ride at all!

Bearing in mind our UK weather, how often do you have to forego riding in your manege?

 

[Super_Kat]

Half of our outdoor (Bearing in mind I livery at college) floods and the whole thing becomes waterlogged and is just generally nasty and thats a sand and rubber mix. But we also have an indoor arena and a covered arena (with a mac track surface, mmmmm) to use when the outdoor is like a swimming pool

If I were you I'd get a load of other liveries together and complain, whoever did the school obviously did a shoddy job if the water won't drain off it and use of it is pqrt of your livery deal and it's not on if you can't use it after it's been raining.

kat
xx

 

[JAK]

I can't stand it any more kat, I really can't & am now dreading winter!

Other liveries don't give a sh*t either way - out of 20 odd equines on the yard, only 5 or 6 are ridden what you could remotely term as 'regularly' & 3 of those are ours!
(And only ours are ridden on a 'daily basis' - the majority are too old, lame, psychotc or owned by completely disinterested owners to be ridden at all!)

If only the hacking round here wasn't so cr*p/blatantly dangerous!

 

[Patches]

My friend's manege was sand. In all the times we rode on it, it never became waterlogged. Infact, it rode far better after a heavy downpour as it made the sand firmer. Hers used to dry out far too fast really and the only times we couldn't ride in it were solely because it was too dry and therefore too deep or occasionally if it was frosty when we wanted to ride first thing in the morning. The dry arena was never a problem though, as in very dry weather we had the fields to ride in anyway.

What type of sand is it? Cheaper, almost building sand, has particles that I think are too large and therefore don't allow water through it to the substructure where they are drained away.

What a night mare for you. I don't have a school at home and have to use the fields or hack. At least our hacking is pretty quiet here. If it were me, I think I'd be looking for a new yard.

 

[JAK]

It's 'posh' sand, the right stuff supposedley, it just doesn't drain, or the drainage underneath isn't working, one of the two!

Hacking involves a lethal road outside yard & it is not safe for the kids to go out alone, as many drivers use it as a 'racetrack' & come tearing down here at 85/90mph & then there's all the heavy lorries etc, etc.!

Arrgghh! Bl**dy manege, bl**dy weather, bl**dy winter, bl**dy road!

 

[Super_Kat]

I take it that it's not possible to move to a new yard? It seems like a horrible waste of money to pay to have a menage put in only for it to be unuseable when it's wet, can't quite see the logic there.
I'd go and persistantly kick ass because at the end of the day your paying for use of a facility that you can't use.
Does the whole thing because water logged or just a corner of it?

kat
xx

 

[Vey]

There is something seriously wrong with it. I live in a very wet area indeed, and the local livery yard (sadly to far away for me to use the menage) has an outdoor menage which never ever becomes waterlogged - and we are talking serious rain day after day up here. I agree - try persistance. Every so polite, but day after day. Get assurances it will be fixed, get the day you expect to see action, and go back and ask why no action of day - that kind of thing!

 

[JAK]

Don't really want to move as yard, although scruffy & full of highly annoying, lazy gits, is basically a very friendly place & ponies are very settled & happy there!

Yes, whole thing becomes waterlogged, though worse in some places than others!

 

[JAK]

We waited a year for it to be done & now we've got it, it's virtually useless!

Hard to stir YO into action, even though 2 liveries have already left for this very reason but will try!

 

[K9Wendy]

Jak, was this put in by contractors, or is it a DIY job by owners? I'm thinking if it was done by contractors and seeing how bad it is then they should be able to get them out and redo it, as it does not do the job it was intended for. However if they skimped on drainage etc even with contractors they may well not have a leg to stand on. Hope you get it sorted, sound like a nightmare!

 

[Super_Kat]

Dangerous hacking, unuseable menage.........Personally I'd up sticks and find a nice yard, good, safe hacking and a decent menage. Sounds to me that your not very happy where you are now and the whole point of having horses (and shelling out an absolute fortune on them) is so we can enjoy them and an unsuitable yard makes that hard.
BTW, hows SWUO getting on?

Kat
xx

 

[peterthepony]

Where i keep Spike the arena there is Rubber and Sand mix, and is absoloutely brilliant, doesn't EVER get water logged, so we don't have to worry about not excercising for a few days, but i have known lots of sand schools to get VERY water logged.

 

[Louby]

Where I used to be had sand, looked like builders sand (more red) and it flooded but it was a DIY one. Where I am now is sand and rubber with loads of underground drains, never gets waterlogged and rides better when wet. It does dry out in the summer though and gets very deep.

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
Jak, was this put in by contractors, or is it a DIY job by owners?

[/ QUOTE ]
Put in by general workmen, working on behalf of yard owners - our YO only rents the place from them!
Guys who did it are competent blokes generally but have to obviously do what they're told, how they're told & use only the materials they're given!

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
Dangerous hacking, unuseable menage.........Personally I'd up sticks and find a nice yard, good, safe hacking and a decent menage.
BTW, hows SWUO getting on?

[/ QUOTE ]
Four ponies (the 3 boys at least to be kept together!), four kids (inc. a small autistic one!) are not so easy to find a new home for, though they are very clean, tidy & pretty pleasant generally!
I don't like individual turnout arrangements, need at least an outdoor school available, decent hacking & the opportunity for instruction as & when required!
Hhmm, put like that, it doesn't seem that much to ask for, does it really?
SWUO is now hugely fat again, as just as she was looking reasonably ok, her field was moved & she has been back to stuffing her face with September grass!

 

[Skhosu]

Our arena is sand and NEVER gets flooded. It's good old lough neagh sand and although a little deep at times, has never been unrideable.
Even in frost, if you walk a circle for 5 mins, you can ride in half the school!

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
Where i keep Spike the arena there is Rubber and Sand mix, and is absoloutely brilliant, doesn't EVER get water logged, so we don't have to worry about not excercising for a few days, but i have known lots of sand schools to get VERY water logged.

[/ QUOTE ]
I wish we'd had a rubber/sand mix then but the cost put them off apparently, as it was a lot more expensive!

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
Where I used to be had sand, looked like builders sand (more red) and it flooded but it was a DIY one.

[/ QUOTE ]
This looks like the 'proper' sand but of course, that won't help if the general construction & drainage underneath isn't up to par!
I am soooo disappointed - I wasn't expecting something of Olympic standards but certainly something better than this!

 

[Skhosu]

I would move TBH! What do the girls think of not being able to ride?
Could you even suss out local yards to see what their like?

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
Our arena is sand and NEVER gets flooded. It's good old lough neagh sand and although a little deep at times, has never been unrideable.
Even in frost, if you walk a circle for 5 mins, you can ride in half the school!

[/ QUOTE ]
Huh - ours freezes at the drop of a hat & turns into something resembling solid concrete!
So - we can't use it when it's very dry or windy (think of the sandstorm scene in 'Hidalgo'!), or when it's wet (think bog!), or when it's cold (think perma-frost!) - doesn't leave much, does it?

 

[peterthepony]

Yes they are expensive but so worth the price!

Would you not be able to move yards?

 

[lilym]

our manege is always rideable, it is a sand and rubber mix. sounds to me like whoever put your school in took shortcuts with the groundwork as drainage is obviously a problem, ours can get a little deep in very dry weather but is harrowed daily to prevent this becoming a problem, even after heavy rain it rides nicely, i would definatley say something, as you are paying for a service you cannot use.

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
I would move TBH! What do the girls think of not being able to ride?

[/ QUOTE ]
It drives them mad tbh & poor old LBO just can't cope in there very well, as unlike CB, he hasn't got the strength to plough through it (one of the reasons CB is as fit as he is!), as it is seldom levelled & never watered, so often has the consistency of a 'ploughed field', it's so lumpy!

[ QUOTE ]
Could you even suss out local yards to see what their like?

[/ QUOTE ]
They all seem to go in for this 'individual turnout' thing, with each horse having a diddy little patch of paddock & no/limited turnout in winter, which would be impossible with FOO, as he would go utterly ballistic!

 

[Vey]

Forgive me asking, but what area are you in (pm me if you like) just in case I know of anybody or anything. I do agree, no trunout and individual torun out is just downright cruel.

 

[not_with_it]

We are able to use ours all year round. It never gets water logged but we do have to have to put the sprinkler on it in summer as it does tend to dry out and go a bit deep. It really is fantastic but it did cost an absoloute fortune and loads of time was spent putting in the drainage.

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes they are expensive but so worth the price!

Would you not be able to move yards?

[/ QUOTE ]
Moving is a scary thought tbh but may be only option I s'pose!

 

[peterthepony]

I think it would be a good option! Good luck with what ever you decide to do!

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
sounds to me like whoever put your school in took shortcuts with the groundwork as drainage is obviously a problem

[/ QUOTE ]
Got it in one!

[ QUOTE ]
ours can get a little deep in very dry weather but is harrowed daily to prevent this becoming a problem

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah.........ours too.......harrowed daily.........absolutely! *snort*

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
Forgive me asking, but what area are you in (pm me if you like) just in case I know of anybody or anything. I do agree, no trunout and individual torun out is just downright cruel.

[/ QUOTE ]
That's one of the few good things about it - turnout is a bit pants but at least it's all year round for those that want it!

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
We are able to use ours all year round. It never gets water logged but we do have to have to put the sprinkler on it in summer as it does tend to dry out and go a bit deep. It really is fantastic but it did cost an absoloute fortune and loads of time was spent putting in the drainage.

[/ QUOTE ]
Sprinkler? Sprinkler? YO won't water ours, as yard is on a meter & she 'can't afford it', so it's neither watered nor levelled! One can only wonder why they bothered putting it in really?